TAIEX falls on debt worries
The TAIEX pulled back yesterday, closing below the 7,000-point mark amid lingering concerns over debt problems in the eurozone, dealers said.
While China’s interest rate cuts lent some support to select local stocks with close business ties to China, selling in market heavyweights, such as smartphone vendor HTC Corp (宏達電) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), kept the benchmark index in negative territory throughout the session.
The weighted index closed down 80.66 points, or 1.14 percent, at 6,999.65, after moving between 6,979.82 and 7,063.08 on turnover of NT$50.80 billion (US$1.70 billion).
TSMC fell 2.38 percent to close at NT$77.90, while HTC shed 7 percent, the maximum daily limit, to close at NT$352 amid pessimism over the firm’s earnings outlook.
At the end of the session, the plastics and chemicals sector suffered the heaviest losses among the eight major stock categories, finishing down 1.65 percent.
Yields drop on Greece fears
The yield on government 1 percent bonds that mature in January 2017 dropped one basis point this week, and yesterday the yield closed at 0.922 percent, according to GRETAI Securities Market.
The yield reached 0.91 percent on Monday, the lowest level for benchmark five-year rates since October 2010.
Traders are shifting their focus to longer-maturity debt, especially 10-year notes, on concerns that elections in Greece next month will fan volatility.
The yield on the generic 10-year government bond fell one basis point yesterday and two basis points this week to 1.17 percent.
The overnight interbank lending rate was steady yesterday and for the week at 0.514 percent, according to a weighted average compiled by the Taiwan Interbank Money Center.
Oil imports decline 7.4 percent
Taiwan, which imports more than 99 percent of its crude oil needs, purchased less of the fuel last month as Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) reduced refining capacity.
Shipments declined 7.4 percent from a year earlier to 22.5 million barrels last month, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement on Thursday. The nation’s oil bill declined 6.2 percent to US$2.69 billion last month, it said.
Crude oil processed in May at Formosa Petrochemical was on average 61,000 barrels a day less than a year earlier, the company said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Monday.
The refiner halted a distillation unit for maintenance last month, according to the statement.
Taiwan imported 1.1 million tonnes of liquefied gas last month for US$875 million, according to data from Directorate-General of Customs.
The amount was 13 percent higher than 977,628 tonnes the previous month.
HTC facing new legal battle
The US International Trade Commission (ITC) said on Thursday it has voted to launch an investigation into a complaint about an integrated circuit patent infringement against Taiwan-based smartphone vendor HTC Corp (宏達電).
The ITC said the complaint filed by US-based Peregrine Semiconductor Corp last month alleges that HTC has infringed upon its radio frequency technology. In the complaint, Peregrine also named HTC America Inc, Motorola Mobility Inc and RF Micro Devices Inc as respondents.
New Taiwan dollar declines
The New Taiwan dollar fell against the US dollar yesterday, declining NT$0.07 to close at NT$29.976.
Turnover totaled US$693 million during the trading session.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last